In Theory (#StarTrek #TNG Rewatch, Season Four, Episode 25) Data Gets Boyfriendzoned

Rewatching ST:TNG (Not sure where this review went!) Similar:Trump's reference to "the transcript" of the Helsinki conference… which transcript? Ther…This is why journalism matters: The Atla…UncategorizedTaking Harassment Seriously Requires Serious DistinctionsEditor and columnist Jonah Goldberg ques…CultureArsenal of Freedom (TNG Rewatch, Season 1, Episode 21)With an A-plot that comments on the Cold…CultureMeet the guys who tape…

Friday 21st March 2025, the sun set on the British Empire for the first time in 200 years

This the sunlight at that time is shown on the map above, when the sun is set on Pitcairn, there’s still around an hour until it rises in Akrotiri and Dhekelia, meanwhile as it’s just after the spring equinox, the sun will have set over the south pole beginning it’s 6 month long night, and therefore setting on British Antarctic Territory.

I’m not really a royal watcher but I’m fascinated that the UK has de-royalized the king’s brother over his misbehavior

Prince Andrew has lost all of his royal titles, including “Prince,” in an unprecedented move by King Charles He will now be known as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor and has been ordered to surrender his lease at Royal Lodge The move comes amid renewed scrutiny of Prince Andrew’s ties to late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein…

Everyone thinks AI is replacing factory workers, but Amazon’s layoffs show it’s coming for middle management first

Amazon announced Tuesday that it will cut roughly 14,000 corporate jobs, or about 4% of its white-collar workforce, as part of a restructuring meant to “reduce bureaucracy” and “remove organizational layers,” according to a memo. In the memo, Beth Galetti, senior vice president of people experience at Amazon, said the cuts are designed to make the…

Wood pile stacking animation (Blender 3D)

For a medieval project, I wanted a wood pile, but I didn’t want to have to stack the individual wedges manually. I’m experienced enough with Blender 3D that it only took me a few minutes to get this simulation running — but as this video clip attests, I need to adjust a few parameters. …

The poetry of deafness

My auditory processing disorder makes it hard for me to process speech when I can’t see the speaker’s lips. My wife is being treated for an ear infection. We are asking each other “What?” after somebody coughs, after we ask each other “What did you say?” and after we answer each other “Never mind.” In…

New stamp commemorates Irish priest who saved thousands from the Nazis

I recall being very moved by the 1980s Gregory Peck / Christopher Plummer made-for-TV movie “The Scarlet and the Black,” which dramatized this story. From the late summer of 1943, O’Flaherty worked with “The Organisation”, a massive partisan network, to save more than 6,000 Allied prisoners of war, anti-Fascists, and Jews from Nazi concentration and…

Let’s talk about AI art (long, scrollworthy post from The Oatmeal)

https://theoatmeal.com/comics/ai_art Similar:Some problems bringing #Blender3D models into the #Unity3D game engine. The pink represent…AestheticsJANE EYRE Steps In and Out of Darkness at PICTJane Eyre is not a two-person show, and …AestheticsBlue Feed, Red FeedFacebook is designed to keep your attent…CultureIn October, 1999 I was blogging about college application essays, Willie Crowther, and Eli… Jessica found herself…

Maybe it wasn’t a sensible idea to hold 5 hours of student consultations on the day midterm grades were due, but I really enjoyed it.

Similar:Furnished a random nook in the #neovictorian #steampunk cruiser I'm building. Not ha…PersonalMore #blender3d #steampunk goodness. #design #aesthetics #blender3dart AestheticsAnd yes, that's her picture in the program (from the PPT Shakespeare contest).At PPT’s The Diary of Anne Frank. …CultureLetter to the editor: Setting record straight on Seton Hill newspaperHere’s my letter responding to an recent…AcademiaAnother 10…

Surprised by Mama Cass Elliott’s “Different” — powerful folk-pop ballad in trippy 60’s “H.R. Pufnstuf” TV show

I miss the convention in movies and TV shows in which the main characters visit a music hall or club, and we watch them watching an entire number. Maybe they exchange a few lines during a musical bridge, but mostly they’re just in character, sitting through a performance. I have only fragmentary memories of H.R.…

Folger Shakespeare Library on “The Fate of Ophelia”

Similar:Pluto FlybyWhen I was about 10, I wrote to NASA and…Current_EventsProgress over 11 years of Blender3D practiceOver the past few years I have created l…AestheticsAfter Hours – Why The Star Trek Universe is Secretly HorrifyingAfter Hours – Why The Star Trek Universe…AmusingEnglish teaching: Johnson: Talking past each otherWhen I got to college, I had already…

Folger Shakespeare Library on “The Fate of Ophelia”

On my ride into work yesterday, my mother mentioned “That popular singer has a song about a Shakespeare character.” I had seen social media posts about Taylor Swift’s “The Fate of Ophelia,” but hadn’t investigated yet. I watched the video right before teaching my “Shakespeare in Context” class, and I felt kind of overwhelmed. I…

When backwards newbie poets write…

Similar:Here for the daughter.AcademiaLonely Among Us (TNG Rewatch, Season 1, Episode 6) Crew-posessing spark roams and a droid …Conflict between two species who petitio…AestheticsStarting my “Writing about Literature” class by having students react to a John Donne sonn…PersonalMerry Christmas 2017 PersonalDress rehearsal of The NutcrackerPersonalExpecting the usual theatrical adventure from @quantumtheatrePersonal

Empok Nor #StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch (Season 5, Episode 24) Horror-themed visit to derelict Cardassian station

Rewatching ST:DS9 Dax, Worf and Kira arrive at an otherwise empty bar. Before Quark can take their order, a mechanical noise drives them away. In a service tunnel (the source of the noise), Nog is expertly assisting O’Brien, but something goes boom, critically flabbergasting all the station’s jimberjams. The only way to unflabbergast them is…

Where are Canada, Mexico, Guatemala, Cuba, etc. in your “American Literature” syllabus?

The following comment appeared recently on one of my YouTube lectures, “Historical Context for American Literature.” American???? So where are: CANADA, MEXICO, GUATEMALA, CUBA, COSTA RICA, BRAZIL, CHILE ARGENTINA, PERÚ, COLOMBIA, PANAMÁ, URUGUAY, PARAGUAY, EL SALVADOR, HONDURAS, VENEZUELA… ETC ETC ETC. STOP SAYING THE UNITED STATES IS AMERICA! Here’s how I responded: Geography and names…

The dawn of the post-literate society

The world of print is orderly, logical and rational. In books, knowledge is classified, comprehended, connected and put in its place. Books make arguments, propose theses, develop ideas. “To engage with the written word”, the media theorist Neil Postman wrote, “means to follow a line of thought, which requires considerable powers of classifying, inference-making and…

Excited for Annette Vee’s visit. My journalism students have to submit a story by midnight tonight. @setonhilluniversity

Similar:George Joseph Jerz (1933-2023)George Joseph Jerz, born on September 3r…EmpathyIn November 1999, I was blogging about books, camomile tea and Skylon 4, the death of Star…In November 1999, I was blogging about …CybercultureThough I have marking and prep and committee work and paperwork to do, I took an hour befo…PersonalSpotted: the North American tree daughter.NatureShakespeare's…

Is it okay to say clanker?

Clanker is a derogatory term used to insult AI and its products and services such as delivery robots, therapist chatbots and automated customer service. Why try to hurt the feelings of something that, oh wait, has no feelings? Like most slurs, it has more to do with the speaker using it than the object of…

‘Tentacles squelching wetly’: the human subtitle writers under threat from AI

Artificial intelligence is making steady advances into subtitling but, say its practitioners, it’s a vital service that needs a human to make it work […] AI is unable to decide which sounds are important. “Right now, it’s not even close,” Deryagin says. He also stresses the importance of the broader context of a film, rather…

Have you been “workslopped” by a bot?

If you have ever experienced this, you might recall the feeling of confusion after opening such a document, followed by frustration—Wait, what is this exactly?—before you begin to wonder if the sender simply used AI to generate large blocks of text instead of thinking it through. If this sounds familiar, you have been workslopped. —Harvard Business Review